One of the emerging storylines coming from the Cincinnati Reds’ Spring Training this year involves the distribution of playing time for their two catchers.

The Reds have two catchers expected to break with the camp, veteran Ryan Hanigan and rookie Devin Mesoraco. Mesoraco played a bit in September last year, and is the team’s only excellent prospect left after their off-season trades.

“Hanigan was more than a one-out-of-five guy (last year),” Dusty Baker said. “Don’t assume he’s one out of five now. He would have been more, but he got hurt with his neck and back. . .

“I don’t know how it’s going play out. A lot depends on what kind of progress Mesoraco makes. If he continues on the path, he’s catcher-of-the-future. When that future is is undecided.”

What? You mean the team isn’t going to hand the starting job and 3/4s of the starts to a kid with 18 games of Major League experience? Shocking.

I know lots of fluff comes out of Spring Training, but this feels like the biggest non-story story so far. Of course, both catchers are going to play a lot. And of course, Mesoraco, the rookie, is going to have to prove he belongs.

Thankfully, Hanigan is wise enough not to worry about it.

“I’m looking forward to working with (Mesoraco) and being a team. You can’t worry about that stuff. When you’re out there, you do your job. When you’re not, you help the other guy when you can.

“If there’s any of that selfishness going on, it’s not going to work. That’s kind how I see it.”

Good. A team attitude from a member of a team in a team sport seems like the best way to be a team.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Fay wrote a little bit about one Joey Votto yesterday, and as usual, Votto came off as more focused than your average bear.

“My only complaint is the number of meetings we have,” Votto said. “Other than that, I think the pace goes well and guys get enough work in. I don’t think there’s any excuse come season time to not be ready.”

Yup, Votto likes practicing the fundamentals, and it sounds kind of like he’d get pissed off at teammates who loafed and messed up because of it.

“It could happen in the middle of June when we’re tied for first in a big game against Adam Wainwright. It’s important to start here and build from here.”

So it’s a good thing Votto wasn’t on the team for most of the 2000s, otherwise I’m pretty sure his stare of disapproval would’ve withered everyone on that error-prone team.

As has become Cincinnati Reds’ manager Dusty Baker’s custom, today he announced that the 2012 Opening Day starter would be Johnny Cueto. If you’ll remember, last year he selected Edinson Volquez before any games were played.

Dusty Baker confirmed what he’s said this winter: Johnny Cueto will start Opening Day.

My reaction to hearing this news was to utter a quote from The Wedding Singer. No, it probably wasn’t the one you’re thinking of.

They’ll be divorced in a year!

Yeah, that’s the one. Given Cueto’s youth and success with the team, though, I kind of doubt he’ll flame out like Volquez did and be traded away. Really, the only question concerning Cueto after is his ability to stay healthy. But if he isn’t on the disabled list come the start of the season, then he’ll already be ahead of last year.

Brandon Phillips is among the winners of the LoveMyTeam.com 2012 Fan Friendly Seal of Approval.

That’s pretty cool, and not at all diminished by the fact that they also gave one to rally squirrel hating Skip Schumaker.

When I went to make the Christmas card with the photos of the new guys, I did a Google search for Mat Latos and that was basically my first impression of the guy. I’ve been pretty swamped with an MBA program for Latos’ whole career, so I wasn’t exactly in the know.

“This Latos guy looks like he thinks a lot of himself,” is what I said to the Crack Technical Staff. See for yourself…this fella oozes cockiness. A little bit of research backed up my impression. Latos’ Wikipedia article says that he would have been a first-round draft pick if not for his attitude in high school, and this article from ESPN last years talks about how Latos has, fairly or otherwise, a bit of a reputation for being disruptive.

Which got me thinking about the rest of the rotation and how this Latos character is going to fit in. Bronson Arroyo surely has an attitude, but he doesn’t care what anyone thinks and he doesn’t lash out at others. I don’t have a good read on Johnny Cueto or Aroldis Chapman, but Mike Leake seems like kind of a laid back surfer dude. Homer Bailey may be the closest match, and comparing their stats shows a lot of similarity in their first year in the majors. Unfortunately, Bailey hasn’t really backed up his early attitude with the performance like Latos has.

I’m not sure. I hope that the change of scenery and the easy-going personality of the pitching staff as a whole will be a good mix. I also suspect, though, that even if Latos has grown up some, he’s still going to be pretty intense. If he goes off on Rolen for booting a ball, he might find the whole infield beating down on him. Which could be interesting to watch, too.